January 28, 2013

Human Ingenuity Reaches Solar System Edge

If you would like to get an idea of how fast the reach of humankind is accelerating, consider this. In 1783, only 230 years ago, the Montgolfier brothers gave a public demonstration of the world’s first practical antigravity device, the hot-air balloon. It reached an altitude of about one mile. And 160 years later, a V-2 rocket, sent straight up, reached 128 miles.